


Growing Pains

by zarrati



Series: Triplet Fic [6]
Category: Parks and Recreation
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-31
Updated: 2015-10-31
Packaged: 2018-04-29 05:00:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5116490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zarrati/pseuds/zarrati
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Teenage years</p>
            </blockquote>





	Growing Pains

14.

Ben answered his ringing phone. “Ben Wyatt.”

“Hey, it’s me.”

“Hey honey, what’s up?”

“I need you to do me a huge favor and run to the grocery store after work. I have a meeting that got rescheduled and won’t be home until late.”

“Didn’t we just go to the grocery store, like, two days ago.”

“Yes,” Leslie sighed, “but the boys are hitting a growth spurt and are eating us out of house and home. Yesterday they drank an entire gallon of milk between the two of them in under an hour.”

“Good Lord.” Ben rummaged around in his drawer for a note pad. “Okay, what do we need?”

“Milk, eggs, bread, some cold cuts and stuff for sandwiches, and some of those snack chip things they like.”

Ben nodded as he wrote down the items, adding a few fruits and veggies that Leslie would never consider telling him to buy. “Got it. Anything else?”

“Yeah, Sonia needs tampons.”

* * *

 

17.

“No way, young lady. There is no way that you are leaving this house looking like that?”

“Ugh, Mom, what are you talking about? You can’t tell me what to wear. It’s my body and I’ll dress however I want.”

“And this is my house and you’re not leaving it until you change.”

Sonia stomped her foot and crossed her arms. “You are being so unreasonable.”

“Your father and I have a reputation to uphold in this city, and you of all people should know better. What would people think about us–about  _you_  if they saw you?”

“God, it’s always about you and your jobs, isn’t it?”

“I am not going to tell you again. Go upstairs and change before I ground you.”

With another snort of disgust, Sonia turned on her heels and stomped up the stairs.

“What was that about?” a cautious Ben said as he walked into the living room.

“Your daughter,  _your_  daughter is trying to send me to an early grave. I’m telling you she’s just trying to be rebellious. Do you know what she was wearing?”

“Well, honey, you were always telling her to be i charge of her own body, and I can’t imagine Sonia–”

“No, save it, okay? No daughter of mine is leaving this house in a shirt that says Pawnee Public Library.”

13.

Ben wiped his sweaty palms on his thighs and grimaced as his two boys sat across from him. “Okay, so, I know we already gave you  _the talk,_ but now that you’re older, you’re bodies are going through some changes and-”

“Ew, Dad, we know,” Stephen cut him off. “They told us all about this stuff in health class.”

“I know that, but sometimes they don’t tell you everything, or you might have questions that you’re too afraid to ask your teacher. I just want you to know that you can come to me with anything.”

“Gross,” Wesley mumbled.

“It’s just that now you might notice that girls–or boys, get you excited in a new way and your body…does things it hasn’t really done before. And sometimes it won’t go away on it’s own, and it’s perfectly normal to.. _._  touch yourself.”

“Oh, my God, Dad, just stop. Please. We swear that we’ll come to you if we have questions, but please for the love of Lil Sebastian, just stop. Let’s play Cones or something….anything to make this stop.”

Ben looked offended for a brief moment before relief took over. “Okay, good. Uhm, I’ll go get the game, but before we drop this all together, what’s the number one rule?”

“Respect your partner and no means no.”

“Good. I’ll be right back.”

“You know,” Wesley said to his brother once their father was out of the room, “how much you wanna bet that Soso is having this exact conversation with Mom, only a thousand times worse?”

“Good Lord.”

16.

“Okay, Soso, you ready to learn how to drive?” Ben asked as he buckled his seat belt in the passenger’s seat.

“Yes! I passed the test with a perfect score and I am so ready to get out on the road.”

“Whoa, there, sweetheart. We’re gonna have to start slow before you’re off driving all over town. Now, what do you do first?”

“Adjust the mirrors.”

“Right, then make sure that you keep your foot on the brake when you turn on the engine.”

Sonia’s tongue peaks out of the corner of her mouth as she looks down to make sure her foot is on the brake pedal before twisting the key. The look of pure exhilaration on her face made Ben smile.

“I did it!”

“Good job, honey. Now, make sure your foot is on the brake still and shift the car out of park.” Ben could see her leg flex as she pushed down on the brake even more before putting the car into drive. “Now, ease slowly off of the brake and then move your foot to ease down on the gas pedal.”

She was painfully slow in taking her foot off of the brake, and even slower on the gas pedal.

“Uhm, okay, good start, but you can put a little more pressure on the gas. Just ease into it.”

Sonia bit her lip and nodded, and the car lurched forward before Sonia panicked and slammed on the brakes, and Ben’s head smashed into the headrest.

“Oh, God, oh no, I’m sorry, Dad.”

“No, no, it’s okay,” he tried to sooth his daughter as he rubbed his head and the spot on his chest where the seat belt dug into his skin. You’re still getting used to it. Try again.”

The second time was barely better than the first, but he put on a brave face for his daughter because she was trying–she really was, so he pretended his head didn’t hurt as much as it did, or that he wasn’t starting to get sick to his stomach from the constant stop-and-go.

But she was his little girl, no matter how old she was, and he knew she’d be the best driver there ever was.

15.

“Congressman Wyatt, Governor Knope, please come in,” the Pawnee High School Principal said as he held the door open to his office.

The pair walked in and sat next to their boys, whose faces were pointed down, refusing to meet their parents’ eyes.

The principal took his own seat at his desk and folded his hands. “Now, I do understand you must be busy, so I appreciate you coming.”

“No, of course,” Leslie said. “Our children and their education will always come first.

“That’s refreshing to hear,” he answered with a small smile. “I want to preface this by saying that Stephen and Wesley are both wonderful boys. Very active in school clubs, excellent students, reputations as being good friends-”

“I feel like there’s a ‘but’ in there somewhere,” Ben finished for him.

“Yes, well, it is a minor disciplinary issue, but one that has come up before and we feel like it should be brought to your attention. According to some of their teachers, it appears that on several occasions, Stephen and Wesley have impersonated one another in class.”

Leslie and Ben both shot their sons a firm look, and they ducked their heads even further.

“We know it was meant as harmless fun, but when it comes to things like exams and grading, you can see how this would become a problem if they were doing each other’s classwork.”

“We understand.”

“Good. We won’t take any disciplinary action provided that it doesn’t happen again.”

“We can guarantee that it won’t, can’t we boys,” Leslie told her sons with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes,” they mumbled in unison.

“What were you two thinking?” Ben asked them as they walked to the car. “You said you’d stop doing this back when you were 9.”

“People thought it was funny!” Wesley said in their defense. “And we never do it for very long or for tests or anything.”

“Yeah,” Stephen chimed in, “it’s hilarious watching the teachers’ faces once they realize.”

“I don’t care,” Leslie said. “You’re not to do it anymore. Understand?”

The boys threw themselves into the backseat. “Yes.”

“Good. And Stephen, give your brother his glasses back. You’re not fooling anyone here.” 

18.

“Mom,” Sonia said with a good-natured eye roll, “we need to leave soon or we’ll be late for the ceremony.”

“I know,” Leslie answered with a sniffle and another click of her camera. “But this is a special day. My babies are graduating.”

Ben stood next to his wife with his own proud smile. “And the first time that Pawnee has ever had three co-valedictorians, and we just so happen to be the parents of all three.”

The triplets posed for another picture, Stephen moving to give Sonia a noogie at the last second while Wesley laughed out loud. She tried to look annoyed, but there was far too much excitement in the air.

Even Leslie laughed at their antics, but that quickly turned into another choked sob.

“Mom, if you keep crying, you’ll have to reapply you mascara  _again,”_ Stephen smirked.

“Well, whoever said this mascara was waterproof certainly never did the ‘Leslie Knope Crying Test’.” She took one more picture before Ben gently took the camera from her.

“Okay, sweetheart, I think you have enough. We still have the whole ceremony to take more pictures.”

“Okay, you’re right.” She dabs and her eyes and looks straight at her children. “I just want you to know how much your father and I love you and how proud we are of you. And I know our jobs have sometimes made life crazy for you three, but know that you were always number one.”

She steps forward and pulls all three of her children into a tight hug, Stephen and Wesley now more than a head taller than her. Ben soon joins in the family group hug, and they spend the next few moments rocking back and forth.

“Okay,” Leslie sighs, finally pulling away, “as much as I would love to hug you forever, we have a ceremony to go to.”

“I call shotgun!” Wesley shouts as he runs to the door, his brother and sister hot on his heels, protesting.

Ben wraps an arm around Leslie and pulls her into his side, kissing the side of her head. “Well, we did it. We got them this far and survived.”

“Yeah, and they turned out alright, didn’t they?”

Ben laughed. “Yeah, I’d say so.”

“And I told you they’d be geniuses.”

“We’ve established that you’re usually right.”

Leslie smiled and grabbed her camera and purse. “Well, we better get going. We’re meeting everyone at the school.”

Ben nodded before grabbing her hand and bringing it to his lips.

It was hard–raising three kids with such demanding jobs, but they did it. They did it and their kids were three of the greatest people to ever walk the planet.

And they wouldn’t change a single day.


End file.
